How Do I Get You Alone?
by At Flourish and Blotts
Summary: Lily broke James' heart in 5th year and she thought nothing of it. Now they're a little older and wiser and Lily begins to realize maybe sometimes feelings and people change


A/N:

Hello, hello everyone! This idea just popped into my head and I'm curious to see what people think. Please R/R anything is welcome

Chapter 1

"I don't want _you _to make him apologize," Lily shouted, rounding on James. "You're as bad as he is..."

"What?" yelped James. "I'd NEVER call you a - you-know-what!"

"Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you've just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can -I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK."

She turned on her heel and hurried away.

"Evans!" James shouted after her, "Hey, EVANS!"

But she didn't look back.

"What is it with her?" said James, trying and failing to look as though this was a throwaway question of no real importance to him.

"Reading between the lines, I'd say she thinks you're a bit conceited,  
>mate," said Sirius.<p>

Lily had given very little thought about what happened that day in months to come, even years to come. She never thought James Potter could even feel pain and hurt. No, she never thought about causing James Potter anything until the day came when she never wanted to cause him pain, until she discovered that maybe, just maybe, he was the someone she was looking for.

Lily brushed her long auburn hair out of her eyes for the millionth time while searching for her friends along Platform 9 and ¾ . Her parents had dropped her off moments ago to board the Hogwarts Express for her final year at Hogwarts.

With her Head Girl badge pinned proudly to her chest, trunk in hand, and hair still flying around madly around her face, Lily spotted Marlene McKinnon. Her dark curly hair and olive skin standing out among the other students.

"Marlene! Marlene! Over here!" Lily shouted across the platform. Marlene turned her head away from the dark haired boy she was speaking to.

"Lily!" Marlene shouted as she gave a quick goodbye to the dark haired boy, Gideon Prewett.

The two girls hugged briefly, parting when an extremely tall athletic looking blonde by the name of Dorcas Meadows strolled up next to them.

"Aye! Where's my hug?" she shouted while engulfing both in suffocating hugs.

"Let's get a compartment and wait for Mary, yeah?" Dorcas said after releasing both girls.

"I'll meet you there, Head meeting first, ok?" Lily said addressing them.

"Any idea who the Head boy is yet?" questioned Mary.

"About to find out," replied Lily with a small smile while shrinking her trunk to a manageable size, "I'll let you know when I get back, now save me a seat!"

Marlene and Dorcas laughed as Lily walked to the front of the train. They too shrank their trunks and hoisted them onto the train in search of a compartment.

Lily shoved her way through the crowded aisles of the train up to the prefects compartment towards the conductor. Opening the door quietly, she saw a familiar messy dark head bent over a piece of parchment.

"Potter?" Lily said with surprise.

Since the end of the Fifth year, their paths had decreased in their crossing significantly. In fact, Lily couldn't think of a single time in the past year that James Potter had done something to discourage her. Their Sixth year had consisted of casual passings, little to no conversation, and little interaction. Lily had a hard time remembering if James Potter had pulled a prank at all in the past year.

"Evans, glad you could make it," James said quietly, looking up briefly from the parchment in front of him. Folding it up quickly and placing it in his pocket, he stood up to face Lily.

James had grown over the summer. Or what is over the past year? Lily never remembered him being so much taller than her, or so good-looking for that matter.

Covering her surprise with a slightly clearing of her throat, Lily addressed Potter.

"Potter, I wasn't expecting you,"

"Yes well here I am," James laughed slightly and extended his hand, " I'm glad to be working with you this year, Evans, and I hope you'll bare with me as I learn everything I missed by not being a Prefect."

Lily shook his hand with a quizzical expression on her face but was soon distracted as the younger prefects started filing into the compartment. James dropped her hand and turned to walk towards the far end of the compartment. Lily, recovering from her reoccurring shock, followed quickly behind him.

"Alright you lot, settle down, and we can make this a quick and painless as possible," James began as the last of the prefects took their seats.

"Take it from here, Evans?" James addressed Lily. Lily took this opportunity to get back into her comfort zone and faced the younger students.

"Alright, first of all congratulations on making prefect, all of you, especially our new Fifth years. This initial meeting is just to assign patrols for the duration of the train ride and set up our next meeting," Lily explained authoritatively.

"There's a bit of parchment with times listen up here, sign your name, then you're free to go," James continued, surprising Lily. It seemed that he had been doing work behind her while she was talking.

At that, the prefects began bustling around and signing the parchment before leaving the compartment. As the last student left, Lily took the parchment and shoved it into her bag.

"Uh, thanks for your help Potter," Lily said with reserve.

"Not at all, Evans, how's Thursday sound for the first Prefect's meeting? I'll post flyers in all the common rooms," James suggested.

"That sounds good," Lily said with yet another surprised look on her face.

"Alright, see you Evans," James responded while shouldering his bag and walking out of the compartment where prefect Remus Lupin was waiting for him. He gave Lily a small smile.

Lily took this as a sign to grab her bag and rejoin her friends as well.

Mary MacDonald was fingering her singed brown hair as Lily walked into the compartment. The girls were in the middle of a slightly rowdy game of Exploding Snap. Dorcas and Marlene were giggling uncontrollably as Mary frowned more and more at her fried locks.

"Is this really happening right now?" Mary said sarcastically at the giggling girls.

"Oh Mary, relax, I'm sure Lily can fix it for you," exclaimed Dorcas through her giggles.

Lily sat down with a sigh and sat her bag on the floor. The girls instantly sobered up.

"Lily? What happened?" Marlene asked.

"James Potter. Head Boy. And he was helpful," said Lily minimally. The shock still apparent on her face.

"Yeah? Well he still better be up to par as Quidditch captain," Dorcas mumbled as she began picking up the Exploding Snap cards from the floor. She had been chaser for Gryffindor's team since her Third year.

"Well that's excellent that he was helpful. I'm sure he'll be fine. He hasn't been pranking much in the past year, has he?" said Mary, her positive attitude coming about as always.

"Yes well, I supposed," Lily replied with a confused expression on her face," anyway, tell me, what have you lot been up to all summer?

The girls spent the rest of their train ride giggling and swapping stories as the day faded into the evening and they approached their final year at Hogwarts.


End file.
